A Tragic Disregard of the Past

Like a lot of the idle internet class, I spend some time on message boards. On the main one where I hang, there is a category called “On Da Beam”, where you post whatever you are listening to at the time. A lot of interesting discussions have developed out of that, and I’ve found quite a bit of good new music that way. But something happened yesterday that disturbed me to the core of my being.

Someone I don’t know posted they were listening to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. I mentioned I thought that was a bad idea, since Disco is a tool of the devil. Immediately I was deluged with pro-disco comments, and found that everyone else on the board loved disco.

This is probably because I’m one of the older people on the board. Since you’re probably younger than I as well, let me give you a bit of history.

Back in the 1970s, when I was a teenager, there was a war going on in this country. It was the most important moment in American history, a struggle between good and evil on an epic scale. It was the war between Rock and Disco. For years, we rockers fought with passion against moronic, drum-machine powered disco music, and eventually, at great cost, we won, and the disco threat was eradicated. Since then, it has maintained a niche existence, but has not controlled our culture ever again.

Time passes. People forget. Those of you under 40 don’t realize that the freedom you enjoy is the result of our sacrifice. But take a moment to look at this glorious motto from the conflict, and reflect on what it means to you:

NP: Jason Isbell, “Brand New Kind of Actress”